Team Chevy at Indianapolis: Day 2 recap

INDIANAPOLIS (May 12, 2014) – Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Team Penske Chevrolet, led the way for Team Chevy on Day Two of practice for the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500. The on-track activity increased to 30 cars taking laps in preparation for the May 25th running of the historic race. Castroneves ran 96 laps in warm, muggy conditions with gusty winds and turned a lap at 223.635 mph.

Also putting their Chevrolet IndyCar V6 powered cars in the top-10 in the final order were Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, and Scott Dixon, No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Practice resumes tomorrow, Tuesday May 13, 2014 from noon to 6:00 p.m.

Qualifying for the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 will begin Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. and conclude Sunday, May 18 with the Fast 9 Qualifying beginning at 2:00 p.m. ABC TV will air live coverage of qualifying from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.

DRIVER QUOTES:

HELIO CASTRONEVES, No. 3 PENNZOIL ULTRA PLATINUM TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 3RD IN PRACTICE: “I feel that the weather is the biggest contribution here. Sounds like tomorrow and Wednesday and even Thursday possible rains. So yea, exactly that’s why you want to take a chance with the hot weather conditions for the race plus when you put the turbo number, we’re going to put more pressure on turbo so the speeds going to go up and we’re still going to go with that kind of scenario so right now I’m very happy with our car. It’s not only pretty, it’s looking good. Pretty good. Like I said, we’re not looking for the times because if you like that way, it’s always a reference. It’s a little bit different. I think everybody is getting draft so that they understand what their car is doing in traffic. But at this point, the name of the game is the same for everyone. We’re just trying to put some mileage, especially on the engine and go for it.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 4TH IN PRACTICE: “It was good to get out there and run a lot of laps today, which was important because we don’t know what the weather will be like for tomorrow. I will definitely sleep good tonight because that was a workout. I think the No. 2 Verizon Chevy showed good improvement from yesterday. We picked up some time, as did some other drivers. It’s all part of the step-by-step process to get to where we need to be for the race. All in all I think things are going according to plan.”

SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHEVROLET, 13TH IN PRACTICE: “Today was the first true day of practice for us. It was great to get out there and run for a while today. We tried a number of things we’ve been working on, both in the offseason and in preparation for this first oval of the year. It’s pretty cool having the silver Target cars here in May to celebrate 25 years of partnership with such a fantastic company.”

TONY KANAAN, NO.10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI CHEVROLET (IN T CAR), 10TH IN PRACTICE: “We definitely put a full day in today with the Target car – well over 100 laps around Indy. The No. 10 team is working really hard. Lots and lots of running out there. Today is only the first day of testing the primary car for the race, so we went through a laundry list of items we’ve been wanting to run. Overall it was a good day of learning for us.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, 12TH IN PRACTICE: “It felt good to get out on track today and have some time to turn some real lap times. Today was the first day I went out in the primary No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet and we just wanted to shake down the car and make sure the oval setup was good to go for tomorrow. We’re looking at turning a lot more laps during the session tomorrow and making some long fuel runs

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 15TH IN PRACTICE: "The Verizon Penske Chevrolet has been really quick. We didn't run too many laps today, but because we ran a lot of laps yesterday, we're in a good direction, which is important since it will probably be wet over the next couple of days. We're definitely getting to where we want to be."

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 21 PREFERRED FREEZER ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, 18TH IN PRACTICE: “The conditions were tough out there today. It’s pretty windy. Ed and I were both trying to find a little more grip in the cars. We wanted to work in traffic today. I feel like we made good gains with the setup. We didn’t really try to find a real speed in these types of conditions. We were focused on race running all day. With the variable conditions, that can be rough sometimes. We found a couple of good changes at the end of the day that we will stick with in the future. It is like a race day with the weather. But you don’t want to be complacent on days like this. You want to be really good in conditions like these. We need to be a little better in these conditions and be prepared if it is close to this on race day.”

SAGE KARAM, NO. 22 DREYER & REINBOLD KINGDOM RACING, 23RD IN PRACTICE: “We made some improvements today on the car and got up into the 220s. I was able to draft a little bit for the first time in a Verizon IndyCar Series car, which was a new experience for me and took some time to learn. The crew worked really hard to make the car’s balance better for me in traffic and I think today was a preview of what’s to come for me this week. I want to use this week to get more comfortable in the draft and start working on getting higher up on the speed chart."

TOWNSEND BELL, NO. 6 ROBERT GRAHAM - KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, 24TH IN PRACTICE: “Another productive day in the Robert Graham - KV Racing Technology car. We ran a lot of laps. Worked through our program for the day. Ran some laps in traffic and with my teammate Sebastien Bourdais. A good day. It is a process, but we are making progress so overall I am happy with how the day went

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: No. 11 No. 11 HYDROXYCUT/MISTIC E-CIGS – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, 26TH IN PRACTICE: “It was a good start. I liked the Hydroxycut/Mistic E-Cigs car right off the bat. The balance was pretty good. We worked on a few things then I worked a little in traffic. Every year is different, every day is different here. You run a lot of laps and try and get a feel for how the car is in every condition then try and make the right decisions for race day. That is what we are doing. It was a good day for the first day of practice.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, 27TH IN PRACTICE: “We had a couple of issues today that kept us off the track for some time. But that is what is great about having a teammate here. J.R. was able to put some good laps and test some things that I didn’t. Hopefully it is dry for some time on Tuesday. The weather forecast doesn’t look good though. That’s why you want as much track time as you can get. The conditions today were tough with the warmth, the humidity and the wind. It was a lot like race day can be in a few weeks. I think J.R. had some good runs today that can help our team. That is what working together can mean to a multi-car effort

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 NOVOLOG FLEXPEN CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, 30TH IN PRACTICE: “It was a shame we didn’t get more laps in today. The weather conditions were interesting with the wind and the temperature today and the long-term weather is looking pretty indefinite for the rest of the week. We’ll just have to run when we can and focus on what it’s going to take to make the car better for the race. We’re pretty confident in what we need to do to get the car ready for qualifying this weekend, but we need work on traffic and running with groups to get the car ready for the 500.”

Team Chevy Racing